Hi Ya'll!!!

Hi! My name is Alexa, and my lil' baby's name is Bubba.He's almost 8 years old, 3/4 chow chow, and 1/4 rottweiller, and 100% REDNECK! I came to the site because I've recently taken him off regular, store- bought dog food, and switched to "real" home made dog food. Wanted to get some input on that and a few other subjects... but I'll post my questions in the dog health forum. PLEASE go check 'em out, all and any advice is welcome.

Welcome to the Academy Alexa! Homemade diets are a controversial issue and best discussed with your vet. They are indeed very healthy for the dog, but sometimes you have to add things to their diet that are added to commercial foods already. I suppose the analogy I would use is that commercial dog foods are kind of like our fast foods. Processed(a lot) and not as healthy as natural, more organic foods. With natural diets you can easily avoid any allergies your dog has, whereas if you were feeding a commercial diet you would have to spend a lot of time finding a food that met his needs. However, homemade diets can get incredibly pricey. Many, many dog food manufacturers are now creating a line of all natural, non-processed foods, including Eukanuba, Iams, and many manufacturers that only make natural foods. These are a bit higher in price, but if you'd like to feed a natural feed without having to spend the time buying every ingredient and making it, then this may be a better option. It's important that you thoroughly discuss natural diets with your vet, and slowly ease the transition from commercial food to all natural.
To me, I would think that it would be a good idea to combine an all-natural store bought food with a homemade diet, that way you don't have to buy quite as much groceries for your dog, but he's still on a healthy diet. And, combining the two would make the store bought food last longer because you wouldn't have to feed as much of it. Right now I am feeding a store bought food that contains no processed by-products. I would prefer to do as I just mentioned, but I simply can't afford it right now. Hope this helps you. =)

Nutro makes all natural foods, Eukanuba and Iams just started offering all natural foods, Authority is all natural, Blue Organics....hmm....there's a lot more but these are the ones that are coming to mind. Authority is a lower-priced all natural food but still fairly good.

Eukanuba recently released their "Naturally Wild" line of all natural foods. They're still just selling them in smaller bags and don't have much of a variety just yet, as they haven't been out for very long.

Thank you so much! I can buy these from places like petco and petsmart, right? If I decide to try these for Bubba, should I start mixing it in with his homemade diet, then gradually build up to just that? Or are they so natural, that I don't hafta go through some kind of introductory transition?

Thank you so much! I can buy these from places like petco and petsmart, right? If I decide to try these for Bubba, should I start mixing it in with his homemade diet, then gradually build up to just that? Or are they so natural, that I don't hafta go through some kind of introductory transition?

Yes, they are available at PetCo and Petsmart. I personally wouldn't necessarily use them for transitioning him(unless you're wanting him on an entirely homemade diet). I simply meant that I would use them with the homemade diet to save you time and money, and save you from having to buy groceries all the time. For a daily homemade diet, you have to buy soooo much. If you added this to the natural foods instead, you wouldn't have to buy as much of the food that you cook, and you wouldn't have to cook as much. This way, he's still on a natural diet, but you don't have to spend a fortune buying enough carrots, meat, etc. for him to eat every day(and you).
Plus, if something happens and you don't have the time to cook his meals, you don't have to worry about him going hungry. He can still have the store bought natural food to fill his tummy.

No problem. =) Yes, homemade diets get very pricey very fast, which is why I suggested feeding a store-bought natural food as well to help your groceries stretch a little. ^^ Hope everything's going well.